Number of fines for missing school drops but absent rate rises

There have been less fines for poor school attendance than last year, despite the absence rate in state-funded schools increasing from 1.1 per cent to 1.3 per cent.

The number of penalty notices paid within 28 days decreased slightly from 108,674 in 2015/16 to 102,301 in 2016/17, reflecting the decrease in the number of penalty notices issued overall.

The number of prosecutions following non-payment of penalty notices has decreased by 15.8 per cent from 15,828 in 2015/16 to 13,324 in 2016/17. The number of penalty notices withdrawn decreased by 5.4 per cent from 22,394 in 2015/16 to 21,182 in 2016/17.

The data shows that the number of penalty notices have decreased by 5.4 per cent in the latest year, from 157,879 in 2015/16, to 149,321 in 2016/17.

The number of penalty notices issued has followed a general upward trend from 2009/10 up until 2015/16, rising steeply between 2012/13 and 2014/15.

Regulations amended in September 2013 state that term time leave may only be granted in exceptional circumstances, and may relate to the sharper increase in penalty notices issued.

The reason for penalty notice being issued was collected for the first time in 2016/17, and was collected on a voluntary basis.

Overall, 77.5 per cent of all penalty notices were issued for unauthorised family holiday absence.

The second largest reason for a penalty notice being issued was for other reasons, accounting for 21.4 per cent of all penalty notices.

Statistics released by the Department for Education also show that the rate of unauthorised holiday absences is also increasing.

The unauthorised absence rate in state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools was 1.3 per cent in 2016/17, an increase from 1.1 per cent in 2015/16 – the rate of unauthorised holiday absence also increasing from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent.